Mother whose leg was amputated by Bangkok airport travelator takes her first steps

A mother whose leg was crushed by a faulty airport travelator has taken her first steps again after it was amputated.

The woman, 57, walked with the help of two physiotherapists and a frame at a hospital today after the horror injury at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 29.

It comes as police demand the owners Airports of Thailand cooperate with an investigation into the incident after they refused to give officers CCTV of what happened.

The woman was walking along the travelator when her leg ‘fell through a gap’ and was dragged under, severing her muscles, tendon and bones, according to witnesses.

Paramedics amputated her leg at the airport and she was carried out on a stretcher as her limb was placed in a foam box an put in an ambulance.

The woman was walking along the travelator when her leg ‘fell through a gap’ and was dragged under, severing her muscles, tendon and bones

Her son Kittirat said she complains ‘it’s like being a child learning to walk again’ and has vowed to sue the airport over the allegedly badly maintained travelator.

He added: ‘My mum walked for 15 minutes and must practice every day. It’s very encouraging. 

‘She’s still as beautiful as ever despite everything that has happened. I hope that soon she’ll be running faster than me.’

Airport bosses admitted the automatic walkway used by tens of thousands of people every day was to blame as three bolts holding the metal surface plate the woman was standing on suddenly gave way.

But Police Colonel Adirek Thongkaemkaew, chief of the city’s Don Muang district police, said the airport’s owners still had not handed over CCTV evidence of the incident.

Mr Thongkaemkaew added he would ‘continue to repeat the requests for CCTV’ as the force gathered witness statements.

Paramedics amputated her leg at the airport and she was carried out on a stretcher as her limb was placed in a foam box an put in an ambulance

Her son Kittirat said she complains ‘it’s like being a child learning to walk again’ and has vowed to sue the airport

Don Mueang International Airport staff – which has a separate military terminal on the opposite side which is used by the country’s King – closed all of 20 their automatic walkways after the incident.

The other airports around the country also began frantically checking their devices amid fears of similar accidents.

Karan Tanakuljirapat, director of the Don Mueang Airport, claimed the walkways were maintained regularly and they were scheduled to be replaced with newer models in 2025.

A Don Mueang Airport spokesman said: ‘The director of Don Mueang Airport and management has visited the patient to follow up on the treatment and received information from the medical team at Bhumibol Hospital that she is currently in the process of receiving treatment from the medical team.

‘Don Mueang Airport is deeply saddened by the incident and ready to fully accept the responsibility as well as take care of the medical expenses and compensation.’

Don Mueang International Airport (DMK) serving Bangkok opened in 1914 but was replaced as the country’s main airport in 2014 by the new Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK) on the outskirts of the city.

Don Mueang International Airport staff closed all of 20 their automatic walkways after the incident

The airport’s director Karan Tanakuljirapat claimed the walkways were maintained regularly and they were scheduled to be replaced

State-owned Airports of Thailand (AOT) runs the facility and the company is reportedly ‘the most-valuable airport operator in the world’ due to the country’s popularity as a tourism destination and its rapidly growing domestic economy.

A similar incident happened in 2019 when a passenger’s rubber Crocs were dragged into a travelator at the same airport. The victim said that if he did not take off his shoe in time, his foot would have been sliced off.

A number of other people came forward following the latest accident with similar complaints about the ‘death trap travelators’.

Earlier this year an 11-year-old schoolboy suffered a broken jaw after he got his head trapped between a balcony and an escalator while riding the moving stairway at a metro station in Russia. 

Video shows frantic efforts to free Misha after he got his head and hands stuck in between the escalator and an overhanging glass partition next to it.

Misha had been going up the escalator with his father when he rested his head on his hands on the moving rail, not seeing the danger from an unsafe design.

Video shows frantic efforts to free Misha after he got his head and hands stuck in between the escalator and an overhanging glass partition next to it

The 11-year-old was pulled under the overhanging structure and became trapped at the metro station in Okruzhnaya, a northern suburb in Moscow.

First his arms were pulled in, then his head became wedged as the rest of his body was pulled updated.

The boy’s frantic father tried to pull him out, but failed, and passersby also sought to help.

The escalator kept moving making efforts more difficult to rescue the anguished child.

Eventually, reports said, the escalator was halted and emergency staff were able to free the boy and paramedics rushed the boy to hospital.

Misha suffered multiple fractures including a dislocation of the lower jaw, as well as head wounds and severe bruising.